From phongsaly to hat sa is a bumpy & dusty road. Close to the start is a quarry, from Which chinese trucks take the stones Into the valley to yet another construction site. The bus transport happens along the very same road & due to the dust can be difficult to see the magnificent view into the cloud covered valley with few tree-covered islands standing out above the clouds. Going at 20km/h, the bus slowly winds its way down, all along cheerful lao music playing.
In hat sa the nam ou river is passing by & tickets are readily available at this season. The boat driver is called in & off it goes through the steep valley, few rapids & through a vegetation ranging from deep forrests to corn & banana plantations along the riversides, goat, pork & buffaloes roaming around freely, kids & adults fishing. After about 2.5 hrs the dam uder construction apears & its time to change ride, cross the river & after about 45 mins re-embark a similar boat. The dam is just one amongst several along the nam ou, apparently all cconstructed by the northern neighbor, just as well as roads & bridges. The day ends at muang khua, a quiet town along the road from oudomxai to vien bien phu in vietnam, but drawing in a number of tourists for going on trekking tours to nearby akha villages. On the riverbanks the locals grow amongst other things grapefruit, corn, tamarind,  papaya, Salads, etc. we end the day on a few glasses of lao-lao.

It seems all falang (westerner tourists) have decided to leave all at once in the morning, quickly 2 boats are filled & spontaneously the days destination will be muang ngoi, as the car seats for this destination seem more comfortable than wooden planks. the passengers by now know mostly each other from previous experiences, the trip is similar to the previous day (valley less steep except for the karst landscape towards the end, again a few, fantastic king fisher birds can be seen too) & after less than 4 hrs the fairly touristy desstination is reached. As one is leaving the boat offers for guesthouses are approaching, everything is prepared for the tired traveller. A walk through town reveals that the place can be reached by land for quite some time; scooters have arrived, small trucks are used for overland transportation & a massive telephone pole has been put in place. still, surrounded by tree covered mountains, nam ou flowing by nothing much seems to disturb the peace. Following the road out of town one can quickly witness slash and burn in progress to make way for more banana / rice plantations, however. For a really nice view over the town & river one can climb a closeby hill, with two extensive caves along the way (encounters with huge centipedes included). the place i stayed at (mainstreet crossing) is run by a swedish expat, who puts on really good & well visited buffets for dinner & breakfast, also has bicycles to rent.

Weighing the options of visiting more caves on a bike tour along the road from town or continuing further down river I boarded one of the many boats the following morning. Through even higher karst landscapes & a few more rapids the cruise went on to nong kiao, where some time was spend on the bridge crossing the river - drying clothes as the backpack had been stored at the lowest part of the boat...by mini bus on to luang prabang.